Cigarette novelty



CIGARETTE NOVELTY Filed Feb. 10, 1950 INVENTOR WALDEMAR W. WLLER BY 27WW ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 4, 1952 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE This invention relates to a cigarette novelty and has for an object to provide a novelty or toy which looks like an opened package of cigarettes of any popular brand and is used as a harmless practical joke.

A further object of this invention is to provide a harmless practical joke type of novelty made up in the form of an imitation package of cigarettes.

A further object of this invention is to provide an imitation cigarette pack inexpensive to manufacture and sell and useful at parties for causing laughter.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, as will hereinafter become apparent, this invention comprises the combinations, constructions and arrangement of parts hereinafter set forth, claimed and shown on the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the imitation cigarette pack of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

There is shown at H] the imitation cigarette pack of this invention which consists of a container II, the outside of which has a wrapping decorated to imitate any popular brand of ciga-- rettes as at l2. This container H is provided with an opening l3 in one corner thereof similar to the usual opening made in a real pack of cigarettes when a cigarette is to be extracted therefrom. Visible through this opening [3 are a number of real or dummy cigarette ends I4 and a further dummy cigarette l5 extending just enough beyond the opening I3 to be visible and capable of being grasped by the finger of the victim when he is being ofiered an opportunity to take a cigarette from out of the package. This dummy cigarette [5, while finished to resemble a real cigarette, actually is the end of a piece of rubber tubing [6 whose other end I! is secured to and curled about a cylinder i8 within which there is secured a coiled spring 20 whose inner end is secured about a hollow stanchion 2| fixed in the pack housing II. The coil spring 20 is so arranged that it permits the cylinder I 8 to be rotated and allow the dummy cigarette end I 5 to be withdrawn from the pack a distance at least equal to the length of a cigarette that would be contained in a package of the same size.

Extending through one end of the hollow stanchion 2| is the stem 22 of a button 23 which is concealed and invisible within the pack wrapping I2. This stem 22 includes a cross-pin 24 2 movable in a pair of diametrically opposite slots 25 in the stanchion 2! extending between the inner side of the pack container H and the adjacent side of the cylinder l8. A small coil spring 26 encircles the stanchion 2| and is biased be.- tween thepin 24 and the inside of the container II.

The side I9 of the cylinder l8 includes a number of struck-out ratchet teeth 21 so inclined that when the cylinder is rotated in the direction to permit Withdrawal of the dummy cigarette end I5, the ratchet teeth slide past the pin 24 on the button stem 22, but prevent rotation of the cylinder in the opposite direction. However, pressing the concealed button 23 inwardly moves the holding pin 24 beyond the ends of the ratchet teeth 21 thereby permitting the coil spring to rotate the cylinder I8 and draw the dummy cigarette back into the pack.

In operation, the jokester may offer a cigarette to his victim with the dummy I5 in either the fully extended position as shown in Fig. 1 or the partly extended position shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In the fully extended position, the jokester, by pressing the button 23 justas the victim is about to or has barely grasped the dummy [5, causes the cigarette to disappear within the pack. In the partly extended form, the victim is permitted to take the dummy l5 while the jokester holds the pack, and then when the cigarette has been partly extracted, the jokester jerks the pack slightly and presses the button, thus removing the dummy from the victims hand and causing it to disappear within the pack.

A suitable stop 29 is provided between the housing and the cylinder limiting its retracting movement to an amount that will cause the end of the dummy [5 to remain at least very slightly extended beyond the ends of the other dummy cigarettes l4.

While the preferred form of this invention has been thus set forth and disclosed, it will be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular details of construction and arrangements or form hereinbefore disclosed, but that changes may be made in the invention within the scope of what is hereinafter claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. A practical joke cigarette novelty comprising an imitation open cigarette pack, a retracting mechanism mounted within said pack, an extendable cigarette dummy secured to said retracting mechanism, mechanism tending to hold said retracting mechanism against retracting 3 movement. and means for releasing said holding mechanism causing said dummy cigarette to be retracted.

2. A practical joke cigarette novelty compris ing an imitation open cigarette pack, a rotatable retracting mechanism mounted within said pack, a cigarette dummy secured at one end to said retracting mechanism, its other end being extendable through the pack opening, said mechanism including means permitting said mechanism to rotate in an extending direction, ratchet mechanism tending to hold said retracting mechanism against retracting movement, and means for releasing said ratchet mechanism causing said retracting mechanism to retract said dummy cigarette.

3. A practical joke cigarette novelty comprising an imitation open cigarette pack, a plurality of cigarette ends visible through the opening in the pack, a rotatable retracting mechanism mounted within said pack, an extendable cigarette dummy secured to said retracting mechanism, said mechanism including means permitting said mechanism to rotate in a cigarette dummy extending direction, ratchet means tending to hold said retracting mechanism against retracting movement, and manually operable 4 means for releasing said ratchet means causing said retracting mechanism to retract said dummy cigarette.

4. A practical joke cigarette novelty comprising an imitation open cigarette pack, a retracting mechanism mounted within said pack, an extendable cigarette dummy secured to said retracting mechanism, means tending to hold said retracting mechanism against retracting movement, and means for releasing said holding means causing said dummy cigarette to be retracted.

WALDEMAR WALTER MILLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 190,528 Waldschmitt May 8, 1877 525,740 Knight Sept. 11, 1894 1,264,341 Slater Apr. 30, 1918 1,571,381 Sherman Feb. 2, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 435,357 Great Britain Sept. 19, 1935 

